Waiting Around for Nothing
by thatnerdychic
Summary: Fran has been waiting around for five years, but how does she really feel about the mind games Max has been playing on her?


**Waiting Around for Nothing**

**All Fran wants is for Max to finally come to terms with their relationship, but can he?**

All he had to do was say "I love you." Those three simple words are all she would ever need to hear. Just to have him prove that he was incapable of living without her would be enough. But she knew him, and he knew their boundaries. He would always push her to the limit and then give in to his emotions... but only enough to pull her back in, and then he would return to his withdrawal. It was a vicious cycle, true, but despite everything, she would take all the heartache in the world for those few wonderful minutes when he finally gave in. So even if it meant she would die single –and probably give her mother a heart attack- she could never desert him. They needed each other too much. So she was resigned to waiting…

He had done it once already… even if he had taken it back not twenty-four hours later. Okay, so he was working up to it. She could accept that, or at least try to. But this was becoming increasingly difficult with each passing day. Because with the passing of those days, she got a little older, I little fatter, and a little less attractive. She hated to admit it, but she was dwindling. And the more she faded, the less he would want her. But try as she might, she either couldn't, or didn't want to, accept the fact that she was little more than a plaything to this man. Something to look at, fantasize about (she hoped), but never to actually use. And once this plaything started to get dusty, he could always move on to the next one, forgetting all about the once beautiful woman he had cast aside.

Even as she thought this over, she couldn't help but laugh at the depressingly dismal life she had set out for herself. Waiting for a man who could never make a move, who would always be hung up on_ what ifs. _She could sit in his house and take care of his kids all day long if it would prove her loyalty, he will to make something work. But at the end of the day, all that was holding them back was him, and his inability to commit.

She tried to be happy, stay positive, she really did. But as of late, it had become harder, as days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, still nothing had happened between them. It was almost as if he had given up. Like he was ready to trade in for the newer model. She wondered if she should wear shorter skirts, or tighter tops. But would that really help, in the end? Or would she just be postponing the inevitable, delaying the time bomb that would surely explode soon enough.

Contemplating how to stop the horror of her inevitable departure took up all of her free time lately. She had considered quitting to make him realize what he had, but what if he didn't care? Or what if she told him how she felt, laid it all on the line? That one was preposterous, he could never be swayed by that. He would just buy himself time, say he wasn't ready for that sort of commitment yet. Sucking her back in with that one simple 'yet' tacked onto the end of a painful wakeup call.

They both knew she couldn't leave, and they both knew he wouldn't commit. This left them with two options. One, live in this torturous back and forth pull of power, each trying desperately to keep the other around, but only one willing to commit. Or two, wait until somebody changes their mind after all, and either walks out to try and pick up the pieces of their shattered life, or give in to the desires they both felt. In the end, she always knew that he would never change. At this point he was too set in his ways to even consider it. Yet she still tried, and hoped…

Suddenly she looked up, as a familiar call broke her from her reverie. "Miss Fine!" it was him calling, no doubt. So she slowly put back on her too high heels, and she fluffed up her too big hair. She was miserable to say the least, knowing full well that he was not going to be changing anytime soon. But she scampered down the stairs anyways, and plastered on a smile that said, I can't wait to see you, and went to sit on the edge of his desk. Because that's how their little game works…


End file.
